2014 Bill Tracker

The Kentucky Forward Bill (House Bill 220) would have made Kentucky's tax system more fair, adequate and sustainable with a broad variety of reforms. It would have raised about $800 million in new revenue, mostly from income and transactions that currently go untaxed. Lower income folks would have paid less in taxes, largely due to a 15% refundable Earned Income Tax Credit. Here is a bill summary from last year.

The Clean Energy Opportunity Act would have created a Renewable and Efficiency Portfolio Standard requiring utilities in Kentucky to get an increasing share of their electricity from clean, renewable sources and energy efficiency programs. It also would have established a Feed-in Tariff that sets a guaranteed rate for renewable energy producers. The two policies could create 28,000 new Kentucky jobs over the next 10 years.

House Bill 70 and Senate Bill 15, the Restoration of Voting Rights Amendment, would have placed on the November 2014 statewide ballot a proposed constitutional amendment that would automatically restore voting rights to most former felons upon the completion of their sentence.

On March 5, the House rejected the Senate's version of HB 70. The Senate then had the opportunity to recede or not recede from its amendments but Senate leaders never allowed a vote.

On April 15, the House changed Senate Bill 58 (an unrelated constitutional amendment that had previously passed the Senate) to the language of HB 70, with the addition of a maximum three-year waiting period to be set by the General Assembly. The re-written SB 58 passed the House 85-13 but was not called by Senate leaders for a final vote.

House Bill 288 would have provided important protections by our water by prohibiting the dumping of toxic mine wastes into "an intermittent, perennial, or ephemeral stream or other water of the Commonwealth."

Senate Bill 14 would have limited eminent domain to utilities regulated by the Public Service Commission. It would have prevented private companies like the proposed Bluegrass Hazardous Liquids Pipeline that provide no direct public use from being able to condemn land.

House Bill 31 took a different approach. A committee substitute defined natural gas liquids as distinct from oil or gas products, meaning that NGL pipelines could not abuse the special treatment oil and gas companies enjoy under Kentucky eminent domain laws.

On February 26, the House Judiciary Committee approved a committee substitute for House Bill 31 that clarifyies that natural gas liquids pipelines do not have eminent domain under existing statutes. On March 21, the bill passed the full House 75-16 (see how they voted HERE) with an amendment to help the oil and gas industry. HB 31 was never assigned to a committee in the Senate.

Several attempts by Sen. Jimmy Higdon to attach the language of SB 14 or HB 31 to other bills in the Senate were thwarted by Senate leaders. A proposed floor amendment by Rep. David Floyd with the language of SB 14 did not get a vote in the House.

Senate Bill 77 and House Bill 330 would have abolished the death penalty and replaced it with life imprisonment without parole for inmates presently sentenced to death, and permitted imprisonment for life without parole and imprisonment for life without parole for 25 years for offenses formerly denominated as capital offenses.

House Bill 1 would have raised the minimum wage for most workers in Kentucky to $10.10 an hour over the next three years. It also prohibited wage discrimination on the basis of sex, race, or national origin.

House Bill 191 would have raised the state minimum wage for tipped employees to $3 per hour; and beginning July 1, 2015, and each year thereafter, increase this minimum by $0.95 an hour until the wage equals 70% of the hourly minimum wage for non tipped employees.

There was a short hearing but no discussion on HB 171 in the House Judiciary Committee on March 5 – the first time there has been a committee hearing in the 15 years this bill has been introduced. You can read the Lexington Herald Leader's story about that HERE. Neither bill received a vote.

Senate Bill 200 creates several reforms in the juvenile justice system intended to direct more young offenders toward community-based treatment as an alternative to detention.

Status

SB 200 passed the Senate 31-7 on March 20. It was fast-tracked in the House and passed 84-15 on March 27. Because of a House amendment, the Senate voted again in April 14 and approved SB 200 with the House change, 30-8. The bill is now before the governor.

House Bill 485 would have protected residents from utility shutoffs if a financial hardship exists, they have a serious illness, an infant under 12 months is in the residence, it is between November 1 and March 31 and termination of utility service would result in the customer's heating service to cease operating, or all adults domiciled at the residence are 65 years of age or older; provide for the repayment to be done according to a reasonable schedule, not to exceed 1 year.

House Bill 404 would have allowed local governments to establish energy project assessment district programs in order to advance the efficient use of energy and water resources, and provide for local funding.

Status

HB 404 was approved by the House Tourism Development and Energy Committee on March 20, and by the full House 64-32 on March 25. It received one reading in the Senate even though it was never assigned to a committee and did not pass.

House Bill 17 requires the state to maintain a searchable electronic database containing information on the cost and status of economic incentive programs, needed for transparency and to evaluate the effectiveness of such incentives.

Status

HB 17 passed the House 96-0 on January 22 and the Senate 38-0 on April 15. It is now before the governor for his signature or veto.

House Bill 241 would have protected the public from exposure to toxins from coal ash by requiring disposal ponds to have liners, groundwater monitoring, and toxic substance monitoring; and require emergency action plans for impoundments that are deemed as high hazard potential by the United States EPA.

House Concurrent Resolution 17 urged Congress to propose an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to establish reasonable limits on contributions and expenditures in political campaigns and to prohibit noncitizen contributions and expenditures. It is in response to the Citizens United 2010 Supreme Court ruling that opened the door for unlimited independent spending by corporations and unions to influence elections.

House Bill 399 and Senate Bill 135 would have amended the state constitution to give Kentucky cities the authority to enact local sales tax increase

Status

HB 399 passed from the House Elections, Constitutional Amendments & Intergovernmental Affairs Committee on March 11 by a 6-3 vote. Previously there was a discussion-only hearing in the House Economic Development Committee on February 27, and a discussion-only hearing 0n the House Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee on March 6. HB 399 died on the House floor after seven floor amendments were filed, including one to allow casino gambling and another to require 51% of funds received from a local sales tax to be used on projects in designated areas of elevated poverty.

SB 135 was assigned to the Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee and did not receive a hearing.

HB 388 passed the House with a 99-0 vote on February 26. On March 12 it was approved by the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee and by the full Senate, 37-0, on March 19. HB 388 has been signed into law by the governor.

House Bill 52 and Senate Bill 67 were identical bills that would have removed the de facto ban on nuclear power facilities by requiring only a plan for storage of nuclear waste rather than a permanent means of disposal (since there are no approved permanent disposal sites, this creates a ban on nuclear facilities in Kentucky).

Status

HB 52 was assigned to the House Tourism Development and Energy Committee. HB 52 twice was taken from the committee, given its first and second readings on the House floor, and then returned to the committee. No further action was taken.

The wording from these bills was adopted as part of a committee substitute the Senate Appropriations & Revenue Committee added to House Bill 483, an unrelated economic development bill. HB 483 with the amendment passed the Senate 38-0 on March 25. However, the House never voted on whether or not to accept the Senate changes, so the entire bill died (however, the House added the language of HB 483 to SB 74, a bill about emergency response personnel, and sent that bill back to the Senate. After a heated debate that pitted pro-coal senators against pro-nuclear energy senators, the Senate accepted the House changes by a 21-17 vote).

House Bill 380 would have reduced tax revenue for schools and county governments in counties where coal is mined by eliminating the unmined minerals tax unless the owner had received a permit to mine, drill, or otherwise extract the mineral resource.

Senate Bill 99, known as the "AT&T Bill," would have ended the obligation of big telecommunications companies to offer basic local exchange phone service in areas with 15,000 or more housing units, and for all other exchanges would allow these companies to substitute internet protocol or wireless service in some situations; also would have removed PSC jurisdiction over transfer of ownership or control of those telecoms, and would end PSC jurisdiction over consumer cell phone and broadband complaints.

Status

SB 99 was put on the fact track by Senate leaders. It was approved by the Senate Economic Development, Tourism & Labor Committee on January 30 with only one No vote, and later that afternoon by the full Senate, 34-4. Earlier in the week it had been twice taken from committee to give it two of the required three readings on the Senate floor. In the House, SB 99 was approved by the Economic Development Committee on March 13. On the House floor six floor amendments were filed, some to address concerns about the bill, as well as one by Rep. Stumbo to raise the minimum wage that the Senate had killed. SB 99 was never called for a vote in the House.

SB 99 sponsor Sen. Paul Hornback attached the language of the AT&T bill to House Bill 2, sponsored by Rep. Stumbo to set up a scholarship program in counties where coal is produced. In the last hours before adjournment on April 15, Sen. Hornback agreed to withdraw this amendment in order to let the scholarship bill pass.